Recently, a Philadelphia preacher attempted to organize a boycott against this song, calling it blasphemous and offensive to Christians everywhere. Amen is, indeed, a pretty blasphemous song (given the definition) but it’s a huge hit and the pastor may have made it an even bigger hip-hop anthem. Meek Mill features Drake on the track and they’ve just released a video. See and hear what all the controversy’s about inside.

Just in case the blasphemy wasn’t jumping out at you, DirectLyrics has your back:

I just wanna thank God
For all the pretty women he let into my life
All the Benjamins he let me count
Wealth and health, for my family
And lettin’ me BALL on these niggas

[Hook]
Now it’s a lot of bad b-tches in the building (Ooh, Amen)
A couple real niggas in the building (Amen)
I’m finna kill niggas in the building (Amen)
I tell the waiter fifty bottles and she tell me say when
And I say church (Preach)
We make it light up like a church (Preach)
She wanna f-ck and I say church (Preach)
Do Liv on Sunday like a church (Ahh, Preach)

So there’s that to boycott, if you’re a Christian.

Every time I think about this controversy, I’m reminded of Ray Charles who was one of the first artists to incorporate gospel music into R&B and other genres. Remember that scene in Ray? People were furious because he was bringing “God” into the club and therefore sullying the good name of the Church.

I see Meek doing that here– and sure, there’s plenty to be offended by– but it’s a rap song. And so it participates in certain qualities of rap culture even as it borrows from the language of the Church. Not to make this issue about me or anything (lol)… but… I once wrote a chapbook of poems called Bitches And Blasphemy: A Love Story and it was basically a reflection of my interests in rap music and church and the Bible and how those things work for (and against) each other. All that to say I’m very interested in what this song is doing, even as I respect that it’s problematic for a lot of people. I even respect the pastor’s attempts to organize against it, although he’s got a lot more boycotting to do if he wants to eliminate so-called offensive material in rap music.

As always, I’d love to hear what you guys think about the song and about this conversation between the pastor and Meek Mill, which they had recently on the Philly radio station, 107.9:

I don’t necessarily view this song as revolutionary. Kanye started his career with Jesus Walks, which was much more respectful and overall intelligent. Before that was Coolio’s Gangster’s Paradise, which was very blatant and powerful. It seems as though it is just a song meant to shock and offend, and that type of music always comes off as a bit unintelligent to me. It’s not even working well to point out any hypocrisy in the rap world, because other songs (like the adorementioned ones) did a better job, and they did so first. It just doesn’t seem very revolutionary or creative to me.

James, your examples are great. Kanye was definitely trying to do something very specific with Jesus Walks; I think Meek is being playful (casually tossing around Church references rather than trying to make a point). I don’t even know that he was bring to be offensive because he’s not saying specific things about God, it just has that air of church talk with the gospel-type ad libs. And maybe you’re right– had it been more creative, we might be having a different conversation.